Llama 3.1 405B vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
At a Glance
| Compare |  Llama 3.1 405BMeta | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $0.050Openrouter ↗ · Sep 22, 2026 |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $0.080Openrouter ↗ · Sep 22, 2026 |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 131K | 131K |
| Model facts checked | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | Llama-3.1-405B | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Meta | Meta |
| Family | Llama 3 1 405b | Llama 3 1 8b Instruct |
| Model | Llama-3.1-405B | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct |
| Version | Llama-3.1-405B | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2024-07-23 | 2024-07-23 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 131K | 131K |
| Total parameters | 405.9B | 8B |
| Active parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| License | llama3.1 | llama3.1 |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Together Ai (Standard) | Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard) |
| Capabilities | generation | chat, generation, tools |
Llama 3.1 405B Capabilities
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct Capabilities
Related Comparisons
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|---|---|---|---|
Llama-3.1-405BMeta | vs |  GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | cross-developer peerstext |
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | vs | Llama-3.1-405BMeta | cross-developer peerstext |
 Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle DeepMind | vs | Llama-3.1-405BMeta | cross-developer peerstext |
 DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek | vs | Llama-3.1-405BMeta | cross-developer peerstext |
Llama-3.1-405BMeta | vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peerstext |
Llama-3.1-405BMeta | vs |  Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peerstext |
Llama-3.1-405BMeta | vs |  Kimi-K3Moonshot AI | cross-developer peerstext |
 MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | Llama-3.1-405BMeta | cross-developer peerstext |
Llama-3.1-405BMeta | vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peerstext |
Llama-3.1-405BMeta | vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peerstext |
Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | vs | Llama-3.1-405BMeta | cross-developer peerstext |
Llama-3.1-405BMeta | vs |  Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | cross-developer peerstext |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Llama 3.1 405B vs Llama 3.1 8B Instruct FAQs
Is Llama 3.1 405B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Llama 3.1 405B and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Llama 3.1 405B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?+
Only Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a directly sourced input price: $0.050 per million tokens. Only Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a directly sourced output price: $0.080 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, Llama 3.1 405B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?+
Neither model has a larger sourced context window in this comparison. Llama 3.1 405B is 131K and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is 131K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Llama 3.1 405B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can Llama 3.1 405B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. Llama 3.1 405B is open weight; Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is open weight.
Can Llama 3.1 405B and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct understand images?+
Llama 3.1 405B is not documented with image input; Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is not documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Llama 3.1 405B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. Llama 3.1 405B is — and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is —.
Do Llama 3.1 405B and Llama 3.1 8B Instruct support reasoning and tool use?+
Llama 3.1 405B: none of these features are definitively sourced. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct: tool calling. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Llama 3.1 405B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?+
Llama 3.1 405B has 1 sourced provider route; Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has 2, so Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, Llama 3.1 405B or Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.